Tomorrow morning Rous County Council will be holding a special meeting to decide whether to extend the public comment period on the Rous Future Water Project 2060.
The centrepiece of the project is a large new dam to be built on Rocky Creek between Dunoon and The Channon, to supply water to the four Shires of Byron, Lismore, Ballina and Richmond Valley.
Photos below show the area around the proposed dam wall, less than a kilometre away from the Rocky Creek crossing near Coronation Park, where the Channon Market is held, as well as a number of signs put up by locals who are opposed to the dam.
Yesterday Echonetdaily spoke to people from immediately neighbouring properties, who are alarmed and anxious about the dam plans, which they thought had been abandoned some years ago.
A community action meeting was held in The Channon last weekend, and an information stall is planned for the Channon Market this Sunday.
Rous County Council is inviting public feedback on the Future Water Project 2060, which you can make here.
Photos David Lowe
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Rocky Creek's closest bridge to the Channon, near Coronation Park. The proposed dam wall would be 700 metres above here. Photo David Lowe.
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Sign at The Channon. Photo David Lowe.
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Sign at the Channon. Photo David Lowe.
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Sign at The Channon. Photo David Lowe.
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Higher up the valley side. Photo David Lowe.
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Photo David Lowe.
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Rocky Creek, just below proposed dam wall. Photo David Lowe.
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Rocky Creek. Photo David Lowe.
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Photo David Lowe.
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Forest beside Rocky Creek. Photo David Lowe.
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Rocky Creek. Photo David Lowe.
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Tracks, Rocky Creek. Photo David Lowe.
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Giant mussel shell, Rocky Creek. Photo David Lowe.
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Near Rocky Creek. Photo David Lowe.
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Rocky Creek, just below proposed dam wall. Photo David Lowe.
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Rock wall beside Rocky Creek. Photo David Lowe.
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Area to be impacted by Dunoon Dam. Photo David Lowe.
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Rocky Creek. Photo David Lowe.
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This tree is at the dam wall. Photo David Lowe.
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This area would be under the proposed dam wall. Photo David Lowe.
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Rocky Creek. Photo David Lowe.
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Forest giant close to dam wall. Photo David Lowe.
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Gorge area to be impacted by dam wall. Photo David Lowe.
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Rocky Creek. Photo David Lowe.
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Forest giant. Photo David Lowe.
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This area would be under dam wall. Photo David Lowe.
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Looking upstream from proposed dam wall. Photo David Lowe.
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Forest giant at dam wall. Photo David Lowe.
More stories about the Dunoon Dam
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Serious, system-wide water efficiency or another dam?
Professor Stuart White is the Director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures at UTS in Sydney. He also has a keen interest in the future of water in the Northern Rivers.
5 days ago | David Lowe | 5 -
Submissions on Future Water closed, dam controversy rages on
Public submissions regarding the Rous Future Water Project 2060 have closed, but the debate is continuing.
14 days ago | David Lowe | 8 -
Water alliance says stop the dam
As the deadline for the community to have their say regarding The Channon/Dunnon dam reaches the eleventh hour, a newly-formed alliance, WATER Northern Rivers presented hundreds of submissions of objection today.
21 days ago | Echonetdaily | 1 -
Rous County Council Chair Keith Williams responds
Rous County Council Chair and Cr Keith Williams has written to Echonetdaily in response to yesterday's story with Annie Kia and Nan Nicholson about the proposed Dunoon Dam.
21 days ago | David Lowe | 7 -
Nan Nicholson and Annie Kia share dam concerns
With public submissions about to close on the Rous Future Water Project, we spoke to two legendary Northern Rivers protectors to get their views on the proposed Dunoon Dam.
22 days ago | David Lowe | 6
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Here is what you do. You come up from Sydeny Harbour because of too many people there in Sydney.
Then you set to in this little harbour of the environment and build a Sydney Harbour here because you have to go to water. Councils go to water here.
Then you have a Sydney Harbour here and then you set to, to import all the people from Sydney to drink the water here, and before long you need another dam besides these two as you have 5 million people to feed. Where is the next dam going to go after the Dunoon dam in the next decade?
Emily Stewart : Good Question: in 1920 Lismore Basin was suggested as The Dam ….
We love our precious natural environment here , and these areas of quiet beauty are well worth preserving. They are why visitors as well as us locals are attracted to this country in the first place.
We must not allow any further destruction of nature.
The lower half of the proposed Dunoon Dam inundation area is Sandstone country & it is unsuitable for a Dam regardless of it’s value as conservation of Native habitat, Indigenous Heritage or anything else. The site choice is inconceivable.
The most recent NSW Planning population projection is 12,720 more people in the four council areas supplied by Rous by 2060. This does not justify building a huge 50GL $220 million dam when demand management could solve water supply much more cheaply with far less disruption.
This dam is a big white elephant. It will cost us a lot of money without enough population growth to warrant the scale or cost. The money could be much better spent on smart alternatives like demand management.
Water Husbandry –
Problem:
water is required for household dwellings, industry, farming and numerous other sectors of the broader community.
Currently: some households have potable water and some have water from other sources. We do not have enough water to supply current? Households or projected? Increase in household numbers.
Solution (one of):
Town planning (and this may be done to an extent already), could incorporate water storage from roofs (rooves), as a priority and a serious addition to any future design of new builds, not a small space squeezed in between buildings which happens to suit a slimline tank.
Secondly, energy could be given for adequate, rather than an ad hoc, retrofitting of tanks. Every household should not only have one but have the knowledge of how to look after their supply.
Space could be given, not just for storage/tanks but for accessIng water systems infrastructure; roof, gutters, pumps, pipes, etc.
Whilst the above would not be enough to negate the need for a larger dam, if more responsibility for water use was given to households, it may reduce the need for such a large dam or allow time to perhaps entertain the idea of water being sourced from future away. Or to even assess, what this use may be in volume of water that can be utilised as non-potable water.
In my experience water, storage tanks and water infrastructure is an area that requires a serious commitment from the organisation that utilised it. That is, households, manufacturing, farms etc.
Just a thought